World Vegan day

At Noughty, all of our products always have been and always will be 100% vegan. All Noughty products are registered with The Vegan Society so our customers can rest assured that they are buying a truly vegan product.

In honour of World Vegan Day, our founders Lorna Mitchell and Rachel Parsonage share their views on veganism and why it is such an important value which underpins the Noughty brand.

1. What inspired you to create a vegan beauty product?Our core inspiration for creating Noughty was to deliver a performance and benefits-led naturals brand. In addition, the beauty offer for vegans was hugely limited and in fact was largely un-catered for specifically within haircare. The Vegan community are passionate, savvy, and increasingly looking for new products and brands to support their lifestyle. Our experience in formulating natural products, also meant we knew restricting ingredient choices to vegan-friendly options was going to be a hard challenge, especially when we weren’t prepared to compromise on performance and benefits. So we decided to lead the way in creating more choice for vegan haircare customers, to improve the quality of the offer, and to innovate in formulation development within the category.

2. Why do you think veganism is becoming so popular?The growth of veganism is driven by Millennials and Generation X who are also dominating the digital space, creating more visibility and encouraging vegan lifestyles to feel more accessible. The rise of this selfie-generation has driven a very close association between eating well and looking good, with vegan food being high in nutrients, low in fat, and therefore closely connected to health and well-being. We also know 7/10 UK shoppers are now buying healthier eating options and 1 in 3 are buying free-from alternatives, so it is no wonder veganism is on the rise. Facebook groups and events like Veganuary have also driven increased awareness and education. In addition, our global love of pets has risen dramatically in line with the increased visibility of animal cruelty through video streaming, digital channels, and news coverage on meat scandals, so more people are taking a strong moral standpoint against animal cruelty.

3. Do you think there is enough awareness about veganism in the media?It’s great to see veganism becoming more visible in the media, with a rise in dedicated vegan magazines, blogs, influencers and websites. However, there is still a long way to go to ensure that education and knowledge in this area is based on fact and insight, rather than opinion and the media are a great platform to help provide better knowledge and education. We are looking forward to seeing more insight-led articles and more thought-leaders present in this area, rather than headline-grabbing news around vegans clashing with non-vegans. At Noughty, we work hard to promote and support this education message.

4. Is it a struggle to educate the public on your brand being vegan and the importance of it?We reach the vegan community through targeted relevant blogs and media such as Vegan Living. We also communicate our vegan credentials on pack with the Vegan Society logo and use our website to speak to our customers about vegan issues and the important reasons why we choose to be vegan. We attend vegan based events and join in conversations on forums and websites where customers are often looking for information and advice on which products to use to meet their concerns. Outside of the vegan community, we focus first on the naturals message: plants have delivered great results for beauty from their millennia of use so efficacy is fully proven. Some of the most cutting-edge, effective technology for hair is plant-derived, which provides our customers with great results from their products.

5. Where do you see vegan beauty in the future?Vegan beauty brands will become more commonplace as consumers demand more choice in cruelty-free and vegan products to overcome the perceived lack of value for money that still exists with most vegan-friendly products. Brands have to listen to what the customer wants if they are to survive, so vegan-friendly choices will dominate a much wider selection of beauty categories. In-store retail spaces will be dedicated to vegan beauty and this is likely to be led initially, by pop up initiatives. Product performance will also improve as more R&D investment is generated through increased sales. More vegan-friendly ingredient options and product alternatives will come to light such as the development of vegan-friendly pro-biotics.

Read "Our Story" if you'd like to find out more about the story and inspiration behind creating Noughty.